


The One Where He Is A Dog Walker

by mrs_vh



Category: IT (2017), IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Dog Poop, Dog Walker, Dog Walking, Embarrassment, Flirting, M/M, Ten different breeds of dogs mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-01-24
Packaged: 2019-10-15 09:25:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17526092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrs_vh/pseuds/mrs_vh
Summary: Eddie has a job walking dogs that goes to s**t one day.





	The One Where He Is A Dog Walker

*

Lola. Dixie. Penny. Annie. Trevor. Sugar. But it all started with a Dachshund with a Merle coat named Freckles.

Eddie had been looking for a second part time job, after hours were cut at the college cafe he worked between classes. His friend and roommate, Bill, wrote articles for a few magazines, but that wouldn’t be enough to support the two of them. Somehow though, their neighbor — the owner of Freckles — knew that Eddie was needing work with time to study and offered to pay him to walk her dog. It was then that he realized the answer to the money problem was at the end of the leash, or several leashes as it would seem.

It didn’t take Eddie too long to develop a list of clientele. There was Lola, a Pembroke Welsh Corgi; Dixie, a Yorkshire Terrier; Penny, a Bichon Frise; Annie, a French Bulldog; Trevor, a Greyhound; and Sugar, a hairless Chinese Crested. Sometimes he would walk a Beagle named Fisher, a Golden Retriever named Bo, and a large white Borzoi named Eloise; the three were in Eddie’s care when the owners were coming home late. He didn’t have Freckles today, as the Dachshund was at the vet.

At first, it seemed like a strange job for Eddie to take because no one moves to a big city to walk dogs for a living. But it was easy enough and most owners were willing to pay out the wazoo to let a stranger walk their dog around the block a few times a day. It wasn’t as if there were interesting moments happening every day with the job.

There was one time a fiesty Miniature Pinscher puppy had snatched the ribbon off Dixie’s perfectly done hair, after Eddie had picked her up from the groomer’s on the way to the park. Eddie then had to chase the Pinscher to get it back, because he was not paying for a re-do on grooming. Then a couple of weeks ago, Eddie couldn’t find Eloise in the large dog park. He had never lost any of the dogs in the park and was terrified that she might get hit by a car. But Eloise was discovered having a very X-rated date in a bush with a Maltese.

Eddie did have another day that was particularly interesting.

He was on his last walk of the day with the dogs. He was dressed in a plain white tee and his red jogging shorts, sunglasses on his face and fanny pack on his waist, socks and sneakers on his feet. He already had picked up the dogs — Lola, Dixie, Penny, Annie, and Trevor, plus Eloise today — and had taken them upstairs to get Sugar. While waiting in the hallway, the dogs were eagerly sniffing everything they could reach at leash length. Sugar’s owner was clipping on the leash and then handed it over to Eddie, who adjusted the grips between his hands.

"She’s all ready for you, Eddie. Oh, and I took Sugar out earlier after she ate and it seemed like she was having trouble making poo, so I gave her some of this laxative that we have from the vet. Everything should be back okay by the time you get to the park," Sugar’s owner told him.

And everything was okay. Eddie took all the dogs to the park where they ran around, barked and wrestled playfully, went potty like normal, and there were no issues with other dogs. Everything was just fine. The timer on his wrist watch began to beep, so Eddie whistled and shook the little can of treats and all six dogs came running back to him, sitting down with their tails eagerly wagging. Each was clipped back to their leash in turn and each received a soft bone shaped treat, and Eddie began the walk back home.

There was an intersection they had to stop at that was two blocks away from the park. The dogs stood patiently with him, thanks to the expensive dog training and familiarity of their walker. Eddie checked his watch again, seeing that he was still on schedule and would have everyone dropped off within half an hour. Next to them, a little girl with her mother was smiling at the dogs and let Eloise lick her hand just as the crosswalk signal changed for people to go ahead. The groups on both ends of the walkway began moving, so Eddie started walking, leading the dogs across the striped path.

Halfway there, right in front of a taxi, Eddie’s left arm jerked back. He paused and looked over his shoulder to see Sugar, not moving, looking up at him with big wet dog eyes.

"Sugar, come," Eddie said to her.

She remained standing, so Eddie clicked his tongue at her. She still didn’t move.

"Sugar, _come_ ," Eddie said in a more forceful tone.

There was twenty seconds on the timer on the traffic light and there were still people going. Eddie pulled on the leash and commanded Sugar again. This time she looked down, back up at Eddie, and then she began moving her feet, but in a circle as if to get comfortable.

Eddie groaned. "Oh, come on, Sugar! Not now — "

"Hey, buddy! Get your dogs out of here!" the taxi driver called to Eddie out the window.

"I’m trying. Hold on!" Eddie said back.

He could see the driver wave at him, as if Eddie was annoying him. "You’ve got ten seconds on the clock," the driver said impatiently.

Sugar finally settled and she squatted on the crosswalk with all the other dogs standing around waiting. And that was when Eddie could smell it, over the city smog and the gasoline from the cars and the delicious foods from the restaurants all around —

"Oh, fuck! _Sugar_!" Eddie couldn’t hold back the scolding tone of his voice. His hand flew up to cover his nose and mouth, but it was too late. He had inhaled the fresh scent of dog shit and he felt the familiar flex in his throat, the sensation to gag. "Damn it, Sugar! What did you eat?"

Sugar looked up at him, making a sharp ‘woof’ sound at him. She didn’t look the least bit upset by the rancid odor coming from her or by the traffic waiting for them to move.

" _Any time now_..." the first driver called out to Eddie.

Eddie sighed as he put his hands on his hips, looking towards the car. "I can’t do anything about it. She’s taking a shit."

Someone pressed down on their horn a few cars back and the sudden noise made the other dogs react — ears and tails lowered and Annie made a whining sound.

"Come on, Sugar..." Eddie looked to her. "Please! Come on, girl, just get it out. Just do it all now and we can stay at the park even longer tomorrow. We can stay there all day if you want!"

Sugar just looked right back at him, her tail curved slightly as she continued doing as before. Right on the crosswalk, when everyone was trying to go home for the evening. Of course, this would happen, right here and now. Sugar was an older dog and it seemed like even at the park, she needed about ten minutes to complete one dump. What was this laxative that her owner even gave her? Eddie made a mental note to tell her to not ever, ever again.

He could see the dump on the white stripes of the crosswalk and it was disgusting, the worst thing he had ever seen. It was the most wet slop, nearly liquid and thick and dark. The smell was — oh, the only thing Eddie could compare it to was the port-a-potty toilets at a concert he went to with Bill after high school. All of that, coming from one dog. Eddie gagged again and turned his head, shrugging his shoulder to wipe the excess saliva from his mouth.

A few cars began to blast their horns, someone was yelling, people on the sidewalks were watching as if they could see a crime scene. The crosswalk lights had come back on and people were moving around Eddie and the dogs, staring and whispering. The anger and shame made the heat rise in Eddie’s cheeks and it continue over his face and down his neck, going towards his neck. And now, he could see one car in particular parked down the block — a black and white one, with red and blue lights on top.

A cop car parked outside a diner.

"Shit," Eddie let out a huge groan, feeling himself begin to crumble. He could just imagine what kind of ticket he was going to get for this —

"Hey you! Dog walker!" someone called to Eddie from the sidewalk.

This was just Eddie’s day, isn’t it? Taxi drivers yelling at him, the police probably about to come after him at any moment, some new asshole was getting in on the action. Worse seemed to be the only option for how his day was going to go.

Eddie whirled around to glare at the person. " _What_?!" he snapped loudly.

There was a boy about his age walking towards him. Holy fuck, was he cute! He was tall and scrawny and his hair was a mess of dark, tight curls. He was dressed in grey cut off shorts and a sleeveless red tee, a name tag on a lanyard around his neck.

And while this boy seemed annoyed by the situation, he probably wasn’t more annoyed than Eddie at this moment, caught on the crosswalk with a dog making the wettest, smelliest dump in the world.

"Uh...I mean... _what_?" Eddie asked in a nicer tone.

"Hey, you know you’re blocking at least two miles of traffic, right?" the guy asked him, stopping just next to the dogs.

Eddie groaned again. "It’s not two miles of traffic, okay? There is no way it’s two miles."

The guy shrugged, his hands shoved into his pockets. "Well, all I know is that my boss told me to come out here and see what you were doing. But he didn’t have to beg too hard because I happen to be a sucker for a pack of cute dogs with an even cuter dog walker — "

"Are you really hitting on me right now?" Eddie demanded.

"Maybe," the guy grinned.

 _Who does this cute as fuck asshole think he is?_ Eddie thought.

He then gestured down to Sugar, who had shifted slightly but was still making her oozing poo. "She just stopped all of a sudden and starting to take a dump. Her owner said something about her taking a laxative earlier and everything should be okay, but she keeps making this disgusting wet _shit_! And everyone is getting mad at me and making all this noise with their cars and yelling, and it’s just...I don’t know. I don’t know what to do."

"Uh- _huh_ ," the guy said to himself, eyes down on Sugar.

"What, are you just watching her? Who are you anyway?" Eddie demanded. He glanced down at the lanyard and was barely able to make out the chicken scratch handwriting — _Richie_.

Richie glanced up to Eddie, then looked sideways at the traffic. Eddie looked towards the police car and saw the door of the diner open, letting out two officers who were observing the traffic together. One was finishing his Styrofoam cup of coffee, while the other was adjusting the walkie up on her collar.

"So, like...do you even have a license to walk dogs professionally?" Richie asked, catching Eddie’s attention again. He was taking his hands out of his pockets to cross his arms over his chest. "How do I know you didn’t steal these dogs? Just snag the leash out of some little kid’s hand, or away from some MILF in a revealing jogging bra?"

There was another long beep of a bus horn, followed by more yelling. Eddie moaned this time, out of pure aggravation. He was about ready to do anything to get out of this situation. "Look — _no_ , I don’t. I just do this to help out people in my neighborhood. Please, just... _can you please help me with Sugar?_ "

Eddie watched anxiously as Richie glanced down to the dogs and back to him. His thin lips seemed to stretch across his face and he moved them in a series of twists and puckers as if deciding. It made Eddie think that he was going to just have to tell this guy to fuck off and just accept the ticket he was probably going to get —

That was when Richie let out a sigh and shook his head, as if in disbelief. He reached over to Eddie’s waist and unzipped his fanny pack to take out one of the plastic bags inside. He shook it open and stuck his hand inside to make like a glove. He then stuck his hand underneath Sugar’s tail and used his free arm to scoop her up into his arms, pausing to adjust when Sugar began to squirm.

"It’s okay, girl, I’ve got you," he murmured to her, then looked to Eddie. "Alright, let’s get off the crosswalk before people actually run us over."

"After all this, I would pay someone to run me over," Eddie huffed back, following with the five other dogs.

As they walked, there was a roar of applause and the sound of car horns blaring, making quick beeps among the clapping of hands on the car roofs. There were cheers and mutters of " _Finally_!" and traffic then returned to normal. Eddie had never been so relieved to hear the rush of engines and tires rolling over the pavement.

He watched as Richie gave Sugar a few extra pats across her naked spotted back. "What did she eat today that made her so sick?" Richie asked Eddie.

"Her owner said that she had some vet approved laxative to help Sugar. Looks like it helped her too much. You don’t have to carry her around anymore, you can put her down," Eddie said, pausing so Richie could do so.

But Richie kept Sugar held to his chest, still stroking her back and sides. "It’s alright. I was clocking out and my boss asked me to come see what was going on with your traffic jam. You know, do my duties as a Good Samaritan."

He gave Eddie a wide grin, which was given an eye roll in return. "Yeah, well...thanks. You didn’t have to help," Eddie told him and they continued walking. "Do you live this way?"

"...Not exactly..."

"So you’re just going to carry a shitting dog for the next two blocks?"

"Yeah, why not?"

So Richie walked with Eddie, carrying Sugar for as long as he could. They had walked one block and down towards the apartments before she barked to be let down. "You know, you’re kind of surprising," Eddie said to Richie, who held the leash as Sugar went pee.

"Why, because I like dogs? You like dogs too, or I would think if you’re a dog walker," Richie then gazed into Eddie’s eyes and a little smile was cast over his face. "But I could never pass up a pair of warm brown puppy dog eyes."

Eddie felt himself pause for a moment, then rolled his _warm brown puppy dog eyes_ and scoffed. "That you’re so nice with her. Most people don’t want to touch a hairless dog like that. And no one would ever use a plastic bag to pick up poop from the grass, so carrying her around would be out of the question. Dog walking is not for the weak. Where do you work, by the way?"

"At the music store, on the street you were causing a traffic jam on. I really like being around music all the time. I think I want to start a band one day."

"Well, you have the personality for it. This is where Sugar lives," Eddie paused to untangle the leashes and separate Sugar from the rest of the pack. "Um...okay, so, I shouldn’t do this but...since you’re here...can I trust you not to run off with the dogs while I take her upstairs?"

Richie glanced down at the five other dogs, who wagged their tails and panted excitedly. " _How could I say no to faces like these_?" Richie spoke to them in a loud squeaking voice that reminded Eddie of how his mother used to talk to the neighbor’s baby.

Eddie took Sugar upstairs to her owner and Richie waited on the bench with the remaining dogs. The owner had just gotten back from running errands and Eddie stopped to talk to her for a few minutes. When he came back outside, he was shaking his head at the conversation with Sugar’s owner, but then he saw Richie and smiled.

Richie was down on his hands and knees with the dogs, letting them lick his face with their little pink tongues. It was cute that Richie was so attentive to the dogs, but the idea of dog slobber on his face made Eddie cringe. Richie did straighten up when he saw Eddie. "How’d it go?" he asked him.

Before saying anything, Eddie pulled out a small pack of hand wipes and gave them to Richie. " _Please_ wipe that dog spit off your face. That’s so gross."

"Aw, no thank you kisses for me for watching your dogs?" Richie took the wipes and cleaned his cheeks and chin, sticking the wipes into his pocket after. "Better?"

"Yeah, better. So I told Sugar’s owner about what happened and she acted like she had no idea how that was possible. ‘ _Oh, well, Sugar has_ never _had that problem when we walk her. Maybe I should take her to the vet_?’" Eddie then scratched his head with one hand and tapped his chin with the pointer finger of his other hand, acting like he was thinking really hard.

Richie laughed. "Sounds like a really smart person. Clearly Sugar is running the show."

"She was on the phone with the vet when I left, so there’s that. And she did give me some extra money for my troubles, which isn’t too bad," Eddie took Trevor’s and Annie’s leashes back and they continued on.

They dropped off Trevor, Annie, and Penny. Eddie came back downstairs to see Richie directing Eloise and Dixie and Lola to do tricks. He still speaking to them in the exact same squeaky baby voice and the dogs were just eating it up. Dixie was even standing on her back legs with her tail wagging furiously.

"Well, now you’ve done it. I have to give her a treat because she did a trick and now the other two are going to want treats too," Eddie sighed as he took out the little can.

Richie stuck out his hand. "Here, let me give it to them, since it’s my fault."

Eddie watched as Richie gave one to Dixie, then to Eloise and Lola in turn, making them sit before receiving their treat. He changed his voice from silly to stern so the dogs would listen to him. When he was finished, Richie handed the can back to Eddie.

"You’re actually really good with dogs. Why don’t you get a job dog walking?" Eddie asked and tucked the can back into his fanny pack.

"Because I work in a music store where I can hang out with my friends and listen to music all day and fantasize about being in a band one day. But it would be a treat to walk these sweet babies all day," Richie held out the leashes so Eddie could take whichever was next for drop off.

Eddie took back Eloise, who stepped all over his shoe. "You probably have neighbors that would let you walk their dogs, if you needed extra cash. That’s how I got started."

"Yeah, I probably do have some. Or I could just walk with you sometimes, you know," Richie said in a nonchalant tone, not wanting to sound desperate. Something about really cute guys just made this weird, needy persona come out of him.

But it didn’t seem to bother Eddie, who gave a little shrug. "Maybe," he said and kept walking, ignoring the grin on Richie’s face.

Eddie didn’t want to admit it but it was kind of nice having a person walk with him, even though Richie was dorky and silly. But he actually asked about Eddie instead of panting at his ankles and barking at cars. Richie was nice, he was someone that Eddie could hang out with. He even let Richie come upstairs with him to drop off Eloise, where there was a little lobby between the two apartments on said floor.

"Most of my clients are home already by now, but I have three that are late sometimes. They'll let me know ahead of time so I can just go to their place and take the dog out and bring them back. It takes about an hour in the evening so I still have that free time," Eddie explained as he unlocked the apartment door and took Eloise’s leash.

Richie seemed intrigued. "You have clients that just give you a key so you come into their house whenever you want? They really trust you to not steal anything?"

Eddie shrugged. "I guess so. All the apartments have cameras at the front door, lobby, and up here by the elevator and doors anyway, so if I did take anything, they can figure out who did it,"

"That’s pretty cool. You know, that they trust you with everything."

As Eddie opened the door, both Dixie and Lola were pulling at their leashes to get into the apartment, while Eloise remained standing. "I’ll be right back. You better stay out here to distract them," Eddie took Eloise inside then.

After dropping off Dixie and Lola, Eddie and Richie stood outside the building for a few moments as Eddie re-organized his fanny pack and Richie checked his phone. He stuffed it back into his pocket as Eddie zipped up.

"So what now do you do now? Do you go home or...can I walk you home?" Richie asked.

Eddie shrugged. "You can if you want. I usually just go home unless I have some kind of errand to run or go out with friends. It depends on my day, but I have all kinds of free time. I just pick up the dogs a few times a day, take them to the park, let them run around and drink out of the fountain, then bring them back. It probably sounds really boring compared to your job, but I like it. I like the dogs. I like walking."

"No, it wasn’t bad. I mean, I guess it’s not always that exciting every time you take them out, with the whole laxative slash Sugar-having-explosive-diarrhea thing."

Eddie groaned and Richie laughed as Eddie’s hand moved up to cover his eyes as if ashamed. "That was awful. I can’t believe that happened...thank you for coming to my rescue."

"Anytime, Eds. Good thing you’re so cute or I would have left you there on the crosswalk," Richie’s voice was warm and soft.

Eddie sighed as if annoyed, but was kind of flattered by the constant cute comments. He then realized how closely they were walking together and he blushed, sticking his hands into his pockets quickly. He then realized he needed to actually thank Richie for his help and company and give him something to show his appreciation.

So he opened his fanny pack and took out some money, then held it out to Richie who just looked down at the cash. "What’s that for?" Richie asked.

"I wanted to say thank you for your help. I mean, you carried Sugar for me and walked the dogs when you didn’t have to. I mean, no one else would ever do that and I appreciate it so much, really. And...I don’t really know how else to say thank you. I know it’s not much, but I just wanted to show you that I really appreciate your help. So...here’s some money."

"Eds, I don’t want your money. Even though I could use it, but I didn’t cup Sugar’s ass all over town for that."

"Are you sure?" Eddie asked. That sounded stupid and he shook his head. "No, take it. Really. Please."

Richie gave in reluctantly and stuck out his hand for the bill. He looked at the paper, turning it back and forth in that hand.

Eddie could tell that Richie really didn’t want to take the money, but he had no other way to offer payment. And while Richie was pretty cute and had given little hints of flirtation through their walk, Eddie was not about to sleep with him.

"Hey, um...Richie? I...I was wondering if — "

"Yeah!" Richie cut him off quickly.

He looked so pleased by whatever Eddie was going to ask and Eddie laughed at the interruption. "You don’t even know what I was going to say," he told Richie.

Richie gave him a little shrug. "Well, I’m assuming that you were going to ask me if I wanted to go out to dinner tomorrow or I wanted to come walk the dogs with you. I do have to work but we can do either whenever you want."

Eddie laughed again. "I was definitely going to ask if you wanted to come walk the dogs with me tomorrow. What time do you work?"

"I have to open tomorrow, so any time in the afternoon is good for me. Want to meet at the crosswalk again?"

Eddie groaned as he took out his phone and opened a new contact so he could get Richie’s number. "I am going to avoid that crosswalk for the rest of my life, even if that means re-routing my walk. The dogs will love that. So...I’ll come meet you at the music shop and we can go pick up the dogs together?"

"Perfect," Richie agreed and took Eddie’s phone to type in his number. "Got myself a date with a cute dog walker."

"I’m not the only cute one, you know," Eddie finally admitted.

"Yeah. Eloise is pretty cute too, isn’t she?" Richie grinned and Eddie blushed.

*

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little story inspired by a supposedly true story. Thanks for reading! Xo
> 
> Find me on tumblr @ that-weird-girls-blog


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